git-svn-id: https://swig.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/swig/trunk/SWIG@7521 626c5289-ae23-0410-ae9c-e8d60b6d4f22
2272 lines
116 KiB
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2272 lines
116 KiB
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>SWIG and Ruby</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
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</head>
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<body style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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<H1><a name="Ruby"></a>27 SWIG and Ruby</H1>
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<!-- INDEX -->
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<div class="sectiontoc">
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn2">Preliminaries</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn3">Running SWIG</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn4">Getting the right header files</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn5">Compiling a dynamic module</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn6">Using your module</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn7">Static linking</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn8">Compilation of C++ extensions</a>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn9">Building Ruby Extensions under Windows 95/NT</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn10">Running SWIG from Developer Studio</a>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn11">The Ruby-to-C/C++ Mapping</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn12">Modules</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn13">Functions</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn14">Variable Linking</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn15">Constants</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn16">Pointers</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn17">Structures</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn18">C++ classes</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn19">C++ Inheritance</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn20">C++ Overloaded Functions</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn21">C++ Operators</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn22">C++ namespaces</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn23">C++ templates</a>
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<li><a href="#ruby_cpp_smart_pointers">C++ Smart Pointers</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn25">Cross-Language Polymorphism</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn26">Exception Unrolling</a>
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</ul>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn27">Input and output parameters</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn29">Typemaps</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn30">What is a typemap?</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn31">Ruby typemaps</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn32">Typemap variables</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn33">Useful Functions</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn34">C Datatypes to Ruby Objects</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn35">Ruby Objects to C Datatypes</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn36">Macros for VALUE</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn37">Exceptions</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn38">Iterators</a>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#ruby_typemap_examples">Typemap Examples</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn40">Converting a Ruby array to a char **</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn41">Collecting arguments in a hash</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn42">Pointer handling</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn43">Ruby Datatype Wrapping</a>
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</ul>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#ruby_operator_overloading">Operator overloading</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn45">Example: STL Vector to Ruby Array</a>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn46">Advanced Topics</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn47">Creating Multi-Module Packages</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn48">Defining Aliases</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn49">Predicate Methods</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn50">Specifying Mixin Modules</a>
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</ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn51">Memory Management</a>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn53">Object Ownership</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn54">Object Tracking</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn55">Mark Functions</a>
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<li><a href="#Ruby_nn56">Free Functions</a>
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</ul>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<!-- INDEX -->
|
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|
|
|
|
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<div class="sectiontoc">
|
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<ul>
|
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<li>
|
|
<a href="#Ruby_nn2">Preliminaries</a>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<a href="#Ruby_nn3">Running SWIG</a>
|
|
<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn4">Getting the right header files</a>
|
|
<li>
|
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<a href="#Ruby_nn5">Compiling a dynamic module</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn6">Using your module</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn7">Static linking</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn8">Compilation of C++ extensions</a>
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</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn9">Building Ruby Extensions under Windows 95/NT</a>
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<ul>
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|
<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn10">Running SWIG from Developer Studio</a>
|
|
</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn11">The Ruby-to-C/C++ Mapping</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn12">Modules</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn13">Functions</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn14">Variable Linking</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn15">Constants</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn16">Pointers</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn17">Structures</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn18">C++ classes</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn19">C++ Inheritance</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn20">C++ Overloaded Functions</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn21">C++ Operators</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn22">C++ namespaces</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn23">C++ templates</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#ruby_cpp_smart_pointers">C++ Smart Pointers</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn25">Cross-Language Polymorphism</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn26">Exception Unrolling</a>
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</ul>
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</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn27">Input and output parameters</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn28">Simple exception handling </a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn29">Typemaps</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn30">What is a typemap?</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn31">Ruby typemaps</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn32">Typemap variables</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn33">Useful Functions</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn34">C Datatypes to Ruby Objects</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn35">Ruby Objects to C Datatypes</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn36">Macros for VALUE</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn37">Exceptions</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn38">Iterators</a>
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</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#ruby_typemap_examples">Typemap Examples</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn40">Converting a Ruby array to a char **</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn41">Collecting arguments in a hash</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn42">Pointer handling</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn43">Ruby Datatype Wrapping</a>
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</ul>
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</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#ruby_operator_overloading">Operator overloading</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn45">Example: STL Vector to Ruby Array</a>
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</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn46">Advanced Topics</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn47">Creating Multi-Module Packages</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn48">Defining Aliases</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn49">Predicate Methods</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn50">Specifying Mixin Modules</a>
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</ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn51">Memory Management</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn52">Mark and Sweep Garbage Collector </a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn53">Object Ownership</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn54">Object Tracking</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn55">Mark Functions</a>
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<li>
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<a href="#Ruby_nn56">Free Functions</a>
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</ul>
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</ul>
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</div> <!-- INDEX -->
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<p>This chapter describes SWIG's support of Ruby.</p>
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<H2><a name="Ruby_nn2"></a>27.1 Preliminaries</H2>
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<p>
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SWIG 1.3 is known to work with Ruby versions 1.6 and later. Given the choice,
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you should use the latest stable version of Ruby. You should also determine if
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your system supports shared libraries and dynamic loading. SWIG will work with
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or without dynamic loading, but the compilation process will vary.
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</p>
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<p>This chapter covers most SWIG features, but in less depth than is found in
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earlier chapters. At the very least, make sure you also read the "<a href="SWIG.html#SWIG">SWIG
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Basics</a>" chapter. It is also assumed that the reader has a basic
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understanding of Ruby.
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</p>
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn3"></a>27.1.1 Running SWIG</H3>
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<p>
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To build a Ruby module, run SWIG using the <tt>-ruby</tt> option:</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>$ <b>swig -ruby example.i</b>
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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If building a C++ extension, add the <tt>-c++</tt> option:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>$ <b>swig -c++ -ruby example.i</b>
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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This creates a file <tt>example_wrap.c</tt> (<tt>example_wrap.cxx</tt> if
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compiling a C++ extension) that contains all of the code needed to build a Ruby
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extension module. To finish building the module, you need to compile this file
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and link it with the rest of your program.
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</p>
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn4"></a>27.1.2 Getting the right header files</H3>
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<p>
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In order to compile the wrapper code, the compiler needs the <tt>ruby.h</tt> header
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file. This file is usually contained in a directory such as
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.6/i686-linux/ruby.h<br></pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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The exact location may vary on your machine, but the above location is typical.
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If you are not entirely sure where Ruby is installed, you can run Ruby to find
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out. For example:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>
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$ <b>ruby -e 'puts $:.join("\n")'</b><br>/usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.6 /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.6/i686-linux
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/usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.6 /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.6/i686-linux .
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</pre>
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</div>
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn5"></a>27.1.3 Compiling a dynamic module</H3>
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<p>
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Ruby extension modules are typically compiled into shared libraries that the
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interpreter loads dynamically at runtime. Since the exact commands for doing
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this vary from platform to platform, your best bet is to follow the steps
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described in the <tt>README.EXT</tt> file from the Ruby distribution:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>
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<p>Create a file called <tt>extconf.rb</tt> that looks like the following:</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>require 'mkmf'<br>create_makefile('example')<br></pre>
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</div>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>Type the following to build the extension:</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>$ <b>ruby extconf.rb</b><br>$ <b>make</b><br>$ <b>make install</b>
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</pre>
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</div>
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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Of course, there is the problem that mkmf does not work correctly on all
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platforms, e.g, HPUX. If you need to add your own make rules to the file that <tt>extconf.rb</tt>
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produces, you can add this:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>open("Makefile", "a") { |mf|<br> puts <<EOM<br> # Your make rules go here<br> EOM<br>}<br></pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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to the end of the <tt>extconf.rb</tt> file. If for some reason you don't want
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to use the standard approach, you'll need to determine the correct compiler and
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linker flags for your build platform. For example, a typical sequence of
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commands for the Linux operating system would look something like this:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>$ <b>swig -ruby example.i</b><br>$ <b>gcc -c example.c</b><br>$ <b>gcc -c example_wrap.c -I/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.6/i686-linux</b> <br>$ <b>gcc -shared example.o example_wrap.o -o example.so</b>
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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For other platforms it may be necessary to compile with the <tt>-fPIC</tt> option
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to generate position-independent code. If in doubt, consult the manual pages
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for your compiler and linker to determine the correct set of options. You might
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also check the <a href="http://swig.cs.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/wiki.pl">SWIG Wiki</a>
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for additional information.
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</p>
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<p>
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<a name="n6"></a>
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</p>
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn6"></a>27.1.4 Using your module</H3>
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<p>
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Ruby <i>module</i> names must be capitalized, but the convention for Ruby <i>feature</i>
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names is to use lowercase names. So, for example, the <b>Etc</b> extension
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module is imported by requiring the <b>etc</b> feature:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre># The feature name begins with a lowercase letter...<br>require 'etc'<br><br># ... but the module name begins with an uppercase letter<br>puts "Your login name: #{Etc.getlogin}"<br></pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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To stay consistent with this practice, you should always specify a <b>lowercase</b>
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module name with SWIG's <tt>%module</tt> directive. SWIG will automatically
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correct the resulting Ruby module name for your extension. So for example, a
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SWIG interface file that begins with:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>%module example<br></pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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will result in an extension module using the feature name "example" and Ruby
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module name "Example".
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</p>
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn7"></a>27.1.5 Static linking</H3>
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<p>
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An alternative approach to dynamic linking is to rebuild the Ruby interpreter
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with your extension module added to it. In the past, this approach was
|
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sometimes necessary due to limitations in dynamic loading support on certain
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machines. However, the situation has improved greatly over the last few years
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and you should not consider this approach unless there is really no other
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option.
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</p>
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<p>The usual procedure for adding a new module to Ruby involves finding the Ruby
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source, adding an entry to the <tt>ext/Setup</tt> file, adding your directory
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to the list of extensions in the file, and finally rebuilding Ruby.
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</p>
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<p><a name="n8"></a></p>
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn8"></a>27.1.6 Compilation of C++ extensions</H3>
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|
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<p>
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On most machines, C++ extension modules should be linked using the C++
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compiler. For example:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>$ <b>swig -c++ -ruby example.i</b><br>$ <b>g++ -c example.cxx</b><br>$ <b>g++ -c example_wrap.cxx -I/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.6/i686-linux</b><br>$ <b>g++ -shared example.o example_wrap.o -o example.so</b>
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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If you've written an <tt>extconf.rb</tt> script to automatically generate a <tt>Makefile</tt>
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for your C++ extension module, keep in mind that (as of this writing) Ruby
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still uses <tt>gcc</tt> and not <tt>g++</tt> as its linker. As a result, the
|
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required C++ runtime library support will not be automatically linked into your
|
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extension module and it may fail to load on some platforms. A workaround for
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|
this problem is use the <tt>mkmf</tt> module's <tt>append_library()</tt> method
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to add one of the C++ runtime libraries to the list of libraries linked into
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your extension, e.g.
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</p>
|
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<div class="code">
|
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<pre>require 'mkmf'<br>$libs = append_library($libs, "supc++")<br>create_makefile('example')<br></pre>
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</div>
|
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<H2><a name="Ruby_nn9"></a>27.2 Building Ruby Extensions under Windows 95/NT</H2>
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|
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<p>
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Building a SWIG extension to Ruby under Windows 95/NT is roughly similar to the
|
|
process used with Unix. Normally, you will want to produce a DLL that can be
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loaded into the Ruby interpreter. For all recent versions of Ruby, the
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procedure described above (i.e. using an <tt>extconf.rb</tt> script) will work
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with Windows as well; you should be able to build your code into a DLL by
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typing:
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</p>
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<div class="code">
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<pre>C:\swigtest> <b>ruby extconf.rb</b><br>C:\swigtest> <b>nmake</b><br>C:\swigtest> <b>nmake install</b>
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>
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The remainder of this section covers the process of compiling SWIG-generated
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Ruby extensions with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 (i.e. within the Developer Studio
|
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IDE, instead of using the command line tools). In order to build extensions,
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you may need to download the source distribution to the Ruby package, as you
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will need the Ruby header files.
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</p>
|
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<p><a name="n10"></a></p>
|
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<H3><a name="Ruby_nn10"></a>27.2.1 Running SWIG from Developer Studio</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
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<p>
|
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If you are developing your application within Microsoft developer studio, SWIG
|
|
can be invoked as a custom build option. The process roughly follows these
|
|
steps :
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Open up a new workspace and use the AppWizard to select a DLL project.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Add both the SWIG interface file (the .i file), any supporting C files, and the
|
|
name of the wrapper file that will be created by SWIG (i.e.. <tt>example_wrap.c</tt>).
|
|
Note : If using C++, choose a different suffix for the wrapper file such as <tt>example_wrap.cxx</tt>.
|
|
Don't worry if the wrapper file doesn't exist yet--Developer Studio will keep a
|
|
reference to it around.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Select the SWIG interface file and go to the settings menu. Under settings,
|
|
select the "Custom Build" option.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Enter "SWIG" in the description field.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Enter "<tt>swig -ruby -o $(ProjDir)\$(InputName)_wrap.c $(InputPath)</tt>" in
|
|
the "Build command(s) field". You may have to include the path to swig.exe.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Enter "<tt>$(ProjDir)\$(InputName)_wrap.c</tt>" in the "Output files(s) field".
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Next, select the settings for the entire project and go to the C/C++ tab and
|
|
select the Preprocessor category. Add NT=1 to the Preprocessor definitions.
|
|
This must be set else you will get compilation errors. Also add IMPORT to the
|
|
preprocessor definitions, else you may get runtime errors. Also add the include
|
|
directories for your Ruby installation under "Additional include directories".
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Next, select the settings for the entire project and go to the Link tab and
|
|
select the General category. Set the name of the output file to match the name
|
|
of your Ruby module (i.e.. example.dll). Next add the Ruby library file to your
|
|
link libraries under Object/Library modules. For example "mswin32-ruby16.lib.
|
|
You also need to add the path to the library under the Input tab - Additional
|
|
library path.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Build your project.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Now, assuming all went well, SWIG will be automatically invoked when you build
|
|
your project. Any changes made to the interface file will result in SWIG being
|
|
automatically invoked to produce a new version of the wrapper file. To run your
|
|
new Ruby extension, simply run Ruby and use the <tt>require</tt> command as
|
|
normal. For example if you have this ruby file run.rb:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre># file: run.rb<br>require 'Example'<br><br># Call a c function<br>print "Foo = ", Example.Foo, "\n"<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ensure the dll just built is in your path or current directory, then run the
|
|
Ruby script from the DOS/Command prompt:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>C:\swigtest> <b>ruby run.rb</b><br>Foo = 3.0<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H2><a name="Ruby_nn11"></a>27.3 The Ruby-to-C/C++ Mapping</H2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
This section describes the basics of how SWIG maps C or C++ declarations in
|
|
your SWIG interface files to Ruby constructs.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn12"></a>27.3.1 Modules</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The SWIG <tt>%module</tt> directive specifies the name of the Ruby module. If
|
|
you specify:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
then everything is wrapped into a Ruby module named <tt>Example</tt> that is
|
|
nested directly under the global module. You can specify a more deeply nested
|
|
module by specifying the fully-qualified module name in quotes, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module "foo::bar::spam"</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
An alternate method of specifying a nested module name is to use the
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">-prefix</span>
|
|
option on the SWIG command line. The prefix that you specify with this option
|
|
will be prepended to the module name specified with the
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">%module</span>
|
|
directive in your SWIG interface file. So for example, this declaration at the
|
|
top of your SWIG interface file:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module "foo::bar::spam"</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
will result in a nested module name of
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">Foo::Bar::Spam</span>, but you can
|
|
achieve the
|
|
<span style="font-style: italic;">same</span>
|
|
effect by specifying:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module spam</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
and then running SWIG with the
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">-prefix</span>
|
|
command line option:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>swig -ruby -prefix "foo::bar::" example.i</b></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Starting with SWIG 1.3.20, you can also choose to wrap everything into the
|
|
global module by specifying the <tt>-globalmodule</tt> option on the SWIG
|
|
command line, i.e.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>swig -ruby -globalmodule example.i</b></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note that this does not relieve you of the requirement of specifying the SWIG
|
|
module name with the <tt>%module</tt> directive (or the <tt>-module</tt> command-line
|
|
option) as described earlier.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>When choosing a module name, do not use the same name as a built-in Ruby command
|
|
or standard module name, as the results may be unpredictable. Similarly, if
|
|
you're using the <tt>-globalmodule</tt> option to wrap everything into the
|
|
global module, take care that the names of your constants, classes and methods
|
|
don't conflict with any of Ruby's built-in names.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn13"></a>27.3.2 Functions</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Global functions are wrapped as Ruby module methods. For example, given the
|
|
SWIG interface file <tt>example.i</tt>:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>int fact(int n);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
and C source file <tt>example.c</tt>:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>int fact(int n) {<br> if (n == 0)<br> return 1;<br> return (n * fact(n-1));<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG will generate a method <i>fact</i> in the <i>Example</i> module that can
|
|
be used like so:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb</b><br>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'example'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>Example.fact(4)</b><br>24<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn14"></a>27.3.3 Variable Linking</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
C/C++ global variables are wrapped as a pair of singleton methods for the
|
|
module: one to get the value of the global variable and one to set it. For
|
|
example, the following SWIG interface file declares two global variables:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>// SWIG interface file with global variables<br>%module example<br>...<br>%inline %{<br>extern int variable1;<br>extern double Variable2;<br>%}<br>...<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Now look at the Ruby interface:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb</b><br>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'Example'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>Example.variable1 = 2</b><br>2<br>irb(main):003:0> <b>Example.Variable2 = 4 * 10.3</b><br>41.2<br>irb(main):004:0> <b>Example.Variable2</b><br>41.2<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If you make an error in variable assignment, you will receive an error message.
|
|
For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):005:0> <b>Example.Variable2 = "hello"</b><br>TypeError: no implicit conversion to float from string<br>from (irb):5:in `Variable2='<br>from (irb):5<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If a variable is declared as <tt>const</tt>, it is wrapped as a read-only
|
|
variable. Attempts to modify its value will result in an error.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>To make ordinary variables read-only, you can also use the <tt>%immutable</tt> directive.
|
|
For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%immutable;<br>%inline %{<br>extern char *path;<br>%}<br>%mutable;<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The <tt>%immutable</tt> directive stays in effect until it is explicitly
|
|
disabled using <tt>%mutable</tt>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn15"></a>27.3.4 Constants</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
C/C++ constants are wrapped as module constants initialized to the appropriate
|
|
value. To create a constant, use <tt>#define</tt> or the <tt>%constant</tt> directive.
|
|
For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>#define PI 3.14159<br>#define VERSION "1.0"<br><br>%constant int FOO = 42;<br>%constant const char *path = "/usr/local";<br><br>const int BAR = 32;<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Remember to use the :: operator in Ruby to get at these constant values, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb</b><br>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'Example'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>Example::PI</b><br>3.14159<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn16"></a>27.3.5 Pointers</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Opaque" pointers to arbitrary C/C++ types (i.e. types that aren't explicitly
|
|
declared in your SWIG interface file) are wrapped as data objects. So, for
|
|
example, consider a SWIG interface file containing only the declarations:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>Foo *get_foo();<br>void set_foo(Foo *foo);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
For this case, the <i>get_foo()</i> method returns an instance of an internally
|
|
generated Ruby class:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>foo = Example::get_foo()</b><br>#<SWIG::TYPE_p_Foo:0x402b1654><br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A <tt>NULL</tt> pointer is always represented by the Ruby <tt>nil</tt> object.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn17"></a>27.3.6 Structures</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
C/C++ structs are wrapped as Ruby classes, with accessor methods (i.e.
|
|
"getters" and "setters") for all of the struct members. For example, this
|
|
struct declaration:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>struct Vector {<br> double x, y;<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
gets wrapped as a <tt>Vector</tt> class, with Ruby instance methods <tt>x</tt>, <tt>
|
|
x=</tt>, <tt>y</tt> and <tt>y=</tt>. These methods can be used to access
|
|
structure data from Ruby as follows:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb</b><br>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'Example'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>f = Example::Vector.new</b><br>#<Example::Vector:0x4020b268><br>irb(main):003:0> <b>f.x = 10</b><br>nil<br>irb(main):004:0> <b>f.x</b><br>10.0<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Similar access is provided for unions and the public data members of C++
|
|
classes.</p>
|
|
<p><tt>const</tt> members of a structure are read-only. Data members can also be
|
|
forced to be read-only using the <tt>%immutable</tt> directive (in C++, <tt>private</tt>
|
|
may also be used). For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>struct Foo {<br> ...<br> %immutable;<br> int x; /* Read-only members */<br> char *name;<br> %mutable;<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When <tt>char *</tt> members of a structure are wrapped, the contents are
|
|
assumed to be dynamically allocated using <tt>malloc</tt> or <tt>new</tt> (depending
|
|
on whether or not SWIG is run with the <tt>-c++</tt> option). When the
|
|
structure member is set, the old contents will be released and a new value
|
|
created. If this is not the behavior you want, you will have to use a typemap
|
|
(described shortly).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Array members are normally wrapped as read-only. For example, this code:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>struct Foo {<br> int x[50];<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
produces a single accessor function like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>int *Foo_x_get(Foo *self) {<br> return self->x;<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If you want to set an array member, you will need to supply a "memberin"
|
|
typemap described in the <a href="#ruby_cpp_smart_pointers">section on typemaps</a>.
|
|
As a special case, SWIG does generate code to set array members of type <tt>char</tt>
|
|
(allowing you to store a Ruby string in the structure).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>When structure members are wrapped, they are handled as pointers. For example,
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>struct Foo {<br> ...<br>};<br><br>struct Bar {<br> Foo f;<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
generates accessor functions such as this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>Foo *Bar_f_get(Bar *b) {<br> return &b->f;<br>}<br><br>void Bar_f_set(Bar *b, Foo *val) {<br> b->f = *val;<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn18"></a>27.3.7 C++ classes</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Like structs, C++ classes are wrapped by creating a new Ruby class of the same
|
|
name with accessor methods for the public class member data. Additionally,
|
|
public member functions for the class are wrapped as Ruby instance methods, and
|
|
public static member functions are wrapped as Ruby singleton methods. So, given
|
|
the C++ class declaration:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class List {<br>public:<br> List();<br> ~List();<br> int search(char *item);<br> void insert(char *item);<br> void remove(char *item);<br> char *get(int n);<br> int length;<br> static void print(List *l);<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG would create a <tt>List</tt> class with:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
instance methods <i>search</i>, <i>insert</i>, <i>remove</i>, and <i>get</i>;
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
instance methods <i>length</i> and <i>length=</i> (to get and set the value of
|
|
the <i>length</i> data member); and,
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
a <i>print</i> singleton method for the class.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In Ruby, these functions are used as follows:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>require 'Example'<br><br>l = Example::List.new<br><br>l.insert("Ale")<br>l.insert("Stout")<br>l.insert("Lager")<br>Example.print(l)<br>l.length()<br>----- produces the following output <br>Lager<br>Stout<br>Ale<br>3<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn19"></a>27.3.8 C++ Inheritance</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The SWIG type-checker is fully aware of C++ inheritance. Therefore, if you have
|
|
classes like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Parent {<br> ...<br>};<br><br>class Child : public Parent {<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
those classes are wrapped into a hierarchy of Ruby classes that reflect the
|
|
same inheritance structure. All of the usual Ruby utility methods work
|
|
normally:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>c = Child.new</b><br>#<Bar:0x4016efd4><br>irb(main):002:0> <b>c.instance_of? Child</b><br>true<br>irb(main):003:0> <b>b.instance_of? Parent</b><br>false<br>irb(main):004:0> <b>b.is_a? Child</b><br>true<br>irb(main):005:0> <b>b.is_a? Parent</b><br>true<br>irb(main):006:0> <b>Child < Parent</b><br>true<br>irb(main):007:0> <b>Child > Parent</b><br>false<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Furthermore, if you have a function like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void spam(Parent *f);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
then the function <tt>spam()</tt> accepts <tt>Parent</tt>* or a pointer to any
|
|
class derived from <tt>Parent</tt>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Until recently, the Ruby module for SWIG didn't support multiple inheritance,
|
|
and this is still the default behavior. This doesn't mean that you can't wrap
|
|
C++ classes which inherit from multiple base classes; it simply means that only
|
|
the <b>first</b> base class listed in the class declaration is considered, and
|
|
any additional base classes are ignored. As an example, consider a SWIG
|
|
interface file with a declaration like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Derived : public Base1, public Base2<br>{<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
For this case, the resulting Ruby class (<tt>Derived</tt>) will only consider <tt>Base1</tt>
|
|
as its superclass. It won't inherit any of <tt>Base2</tt>'s member functions or
|
|
data and it won't recognize <tt>Base2</tt> as an "ancestor" of <tt>Derived</tt>
|
|
(i.e. the <em>is_a?</em> relationship would fail). When SWIG processes this
|
|
interface file, you'll see a warning message like:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>example.i:5: Warning(802): Warning for Derived: Base Base2 ignored.<br>Multiple inheritance is not supported in Ruby.<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Starting with SWIG 1.3.20, the Ruby module for SWIG provides limited support
|
|
for multiple inheritance. Because the approach for dealing with multiple
|
|
inheritance introduces some limitations, this is an optional feature that you
|
|
can activate with the <tt>-minherit</tt> command-line option:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>swig -c++ -ruby -minherit example.i</b></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Using our previous example, if your SWIG interface file contains a declaration
|
|
like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Derived : public Base1, public Base2<br>{<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
and you run SWIG with the <tt>-minherit</tt> command-line option, then you will
|
|
end up with a Ruby class <tt>Derived</tt> that appears to "inherit" the member
|
|
data and functions from both <tt>Base1</tt> and <tt>Base2</tt>. What actually
|
|
happens is that three different top-level classes are created, with Ruby's <tt>Object</tt>
|
|
class as their superclass. Each of these classes defines a nested module named <tt>Impl</tt>,
|
|
and it's in these nested <tt>Impl</tt> modules that the actual instance methods
|
|
for the classes are defined, i.e.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Base1<br> module Impl<br> # Define Base1 methods here<br> end<br> include Impl<br>end<br><br>class Base2<br> module Impl<br> # Define Base2 methods here<br> end<br> include Impl<br>end<br><br>class Derived<br> module Impl<br> include Base1::Impl<br> include Base2::Impl<br> # Define Derived methods here<br> end<br> include Impl<br>end<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Observe that after the nested <tt>Impl</tt> module for a class is defined, it
|
|
is mixed-in to the class itself. Also observe that the <tt>Derived::Impl</tt> module
|
|
first mixes-in its base classes' <tt>Impl</tt> modules, thus "inheriting" all
|
|
of their behavior.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>The primary drawback is that, unlike the default mode of operation, neither <tt>Base1</tt>
|
|
nor <tt>Base2</tt> is a true superclass of <tt>Derived</tt> anymore:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>obj = Derived.new<br>obj.is_a? Base1 # this will return false...<br>obj.is_a? Base2 # ... and so will this<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In most cases, this is not a serious problem since objects of type <tt>Derived</tt>
|
|
will otherwise behave as though they inherit from both <tt>Base1</tt> and <tt>Base2</tt>
|
|
(i.e. they exhibit <a href="http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?DuckTyping">"Duck Typing"</a>).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn20"></a>27.3.9 C++ Overloaded Functions</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
C++ overloaded functions, methods, and constructors are mostly supported by
|
|
SWIG. For example, if you have two functions like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void foo(int);<br>void foo(char *c);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
You can use them in Ruby in a straightforward manner:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>foo(3)</b> # foo(int)<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>foo("Hello")</b> # foo(char *c)<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Similarly, if you have a class like this,</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Foo {<br>public:<br> Foo();<br> Foo(const Foo &);<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>you can write Ruby code like this:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>f = Foo.new</b> # Create a Foo<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>g = Foo.new(f)</b> # Copy f<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Overloading support is not quite as flexible as in C++. Sometimes there are
|
|
methods that SWIG can't disambiguate. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void spam(int);<br>void spam(short);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>or</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void foo(Bar *b);<br>void foo(Bar &b);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If declarations such as these appear, you will get a warning message like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>example.i:12: Warning(509): Overloaded spam(short) is shadowed by spam(int)<br>at example.i:11.<br> </pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
To fix this, you either need to ignore or rename one of the methods. For
|
|
example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%rename(spam_short) spam(short);<br>...<br>void spam(int); <br>void spam(short); // Accessed as spam_short<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>or</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%ignore spam(short);<br>...<br>void spam(int); <br>void spam(short); // Ignored<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG resolves overloaded functions and methods using a disambiguation scheme
|
|
that ranks and sorts declarations according to a set of type-precedence rules.
|
|
The order in which declarations appear in the input does not matter except in
|
|
situations where ambiguity arises--in this case, the first declaration takes
|
|
precedence.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Please refer to the <a href="SWIGPlus.html#SWIGPlus">"SWIG and C++"</a> chapter
|
|
for more information about overloading. <a name="n21"></a>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn21"></a>27.3.10 C++ Operators</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
For the most part, overloaded operators are handled automatically by SWIG and
|
|
do not require any special treatment on your part. So if your class declares an
|
|
overloaded addition operator, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Complex {<br> ...<br> Complex operator+(Complex &);<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
the resulting Ruby class will also support the addition (+) method correctly.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>For cases where SWIG's built-in support is not sufficient, C++ operators can be
|
|
wrapped using the <tt>%rename</tt> directive (available on SWIG 1.3.10 and
|
|
later releases). All you need to do is give the operator the name of a valid
|
|
Ruby identifier. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%rename(add_complex) operator+(Complex &, Complex &);<br>...<br>Complex operator+(Complex &, Complex &);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Now, in Ruby, you can do this:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>a = Example::Complex.new(2, 3)<br>b = Example::Complex.new(4, -1)<br>c = Example.add_complex(a, b)<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
More details about wrapping C++ operators into Ruby operators is discussed in
|
|
the <a href="#ruby_operator_overloading">section on operator overloading</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn22"></a>27.3.11 C++ namespaces</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG is aware of C++ namespaces, but namespace names do not appear in the
|
|
module nor do namespaces result in a module that is broken up into submodules
|
|
or packages. For example, if you have a file like this,
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>namespace foo {<br> int fact(int n);<br> struct Vector {<br> double x,y,z;<br> };<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>it works in Ruby as follows:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'example'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>Example.fact(3)</b><br>6<br>irb(main):003:0> <b>v = Example::Vector.new</b><br>#<Example::Vector:0x4016f4d4><br>irb(main):004:0> <b>v.x = 3.4</b><br>3.4<br>irb(main):004:0> <b>v.y</b><br>0.0<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If your program has more than one namespace, name conflicts (if any) can be
|
|
resolved using <tt>%rename</tt> For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%rename(Bar_spam) Bar::spam;<br><br>namespace Foo {<br> int spam();<br>}<br><br>namespace Bar {<br> int spam();<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If you have more than one namespace and your want to keep their symbols
|
|
separate, consider wrapping them as separate SWIG modules. For example, make
|
|
the module name the same as the namespace and create extension modules for each
|
|
namespace separately. If your program utilizes thousands of small deeply nested
|
|
namespaces each with identical symbol names, well, then you get what you
|
|
deserve.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn23"></a>27.3.12 C++ templates</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
C++ templates don't present a huge problem for SWIG. However, in order to
|
|
create wrappers, you have to tell SWIG to create wrappers for a particular
|
|
template instantiation. To do this, you use the <tt>%template</tt> directive.
|
|
For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>%{<br>#include "pair.h"<br>%}<br><br>template<class T1, class T2><br>struct pair {<br> typedef T1 first_type;<br> typedef T2 second_type;<br> T1 first;<br> T2 second;<br> pair();<br> pair(const T1&, const T2&);<br> ~pair();<br>};<br><br>%template(Pairii) pair<int,int>;<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In Ruby:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'example'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>p = Example::Pairii.new(3, 4)</b><br>#<Example:Pairii:0x4016f4df><br>irb(main):003:0> <b>p.first</b><br>3<br>irb(main):004:0> <b>p.second</b><br>4<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
On a related note, the standard SWIG library contains a number of modules that
|
|
provide typemaps for standard C++ library classes (such as <tt>std::pair</tt>, <tt>std::string</tt>
|
|
and <tt>std::vector</tt>). These library modules don't provide wrappers around
|
|
the templates themselves, but they do make it convenient for users of your
|
|
extension module to pass Ruby objects (such as arrays and strings) to wrapped
|
|
C++ code that expects instances of standard C++ templates. For example, suppose
|
|
the C++ library you're wrapping has a function that expects a vector of floats:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>float sum(const std::vector<float>& values);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Rather than go through the hassle of writing an "in" typemap to convert an
|
|
array of Ruby numbers into a std::vector<float>, you can just use the <tt>std_vector.i</tt>
|
|
module from the standard SWIG library:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br><b>%include std_vector.i</b><br>float sum(const std::vector<float>& values);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Obviously, there is a lot more to template wrapping than shown in these
|
|
examples. More details can be found in the <a href="SWIGPlus.html#SWIGPlus">SWIG
|
|
and C++</a> chapter.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="ruby_cpp_smart_pointers"></a>27.3.13 C++ Smart Pointers</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
In certain C++ programs, it is common to use classes that have been wrapped by
|
|
so-called "smart pointers." Generally, this involves the use of a template
|
|
class that implements <tt>operator->()</tt> like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>template<class T> class SmartPtr {<br> ...<br> T *operator->();<br> ...<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Then, if you have a class like this,</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Foo {<br>public:<br> int x;<br> int bar();<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>A smart pointer would be used in C++ as follows:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>SmartPtr<Foo> p = CreateFoo(); // Created somehow (not shown)<br>...<br>p->x = 3; // Foo::x<br>int y = p->bar(); // Foo::bar<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
To wrap this in Ruby, simply tell SWIG about the <tt>SmartPtr</tt> class and
|
|
the low-level <tt>Foo</tt> object. Make sure you instantiate <tt>SmartPtr</tt> using
|
|
<tt>%template</tt> if necessary. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br>...<br>%template(SmartPtrFoo) SmartPtr<Foo>;<br>...<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Now, in Ruby, everything should just "work":</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>p = Example::CreateFoo()</b> # Create a smart-pointer somehow<br>#<Example::SmartPtrFoo:0x4016f4df><br>irb(main):002:0> <b>p.x = 3</b> # Foo::x<br>3<br>irb(main):003:0> <b>p.bar()</b> # Foo::bar<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If you ever need to access the underlying pointer returned by <tt>operator->()</tt>
|
|
itself, simply use the <tt>__deref__()</tt> method. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):004:0> <b>f = p.__deref__()</b> # Returns underlying Foo *<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn25"></a>27.3.14 Cross-Language Polymorphism</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG's Ruby module supports cross-language polymorphism (a.k.a. the "directors"
|
|
feature) similar to that for SWIG's Python module. Rather than duplicate the
|
|
information presented in the <a href="Python.html#Python">Python</a> chapter,
|
|
this section just notes the differences that you need to be aware of when using
|
|
this feature with Ruby.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn26"></a>27.3.14.1 Exception Unrolling</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Whenever a C++ director class routes one of its virtual member function calls
|
|
to a Ruby instance method, there's always the possibility that an exception
|
|
will be raised in the Ruby code. By default, those exceptions are ignored,
|
|
which simply means that the exception will be exposed to the Ruby interpreter.
|
|
If you would like to change this behavior, you can use the <tt>%feature("director:except")</tt>
|
|
directive to indicate what action should be taken when a Ruby exception is
|
|
raised. The following code should suffice in most cases:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%feature("director:except") {<br> throw Swig::DirectorMethodException($error);<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When this feature is activated, the call to the Ruby instance method is
|
|
"wrapped" using the <tt>rb_rescue2()</tt> function from Ruby's C API. If any
|
|
Ruby exception is raised, it will be caught here and a C++ exception is raised
|
|
in its place.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H2><a name="Ruby_nn27"></a>27.4 Input and output parameters</H2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
A common problem in some C programs is handling parameters passed as simple
|
|
pointers. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void add(int x, int y, int *result) {<br> *result = x + y;<br>}<br>or<br>int sub(int *x, int *y) {<br> return *x-*y;<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The easiest way to handle these situations is to use the <tt>typemaps.i</tt> file.
|
|
For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module Example<br>%include "typemaps.i"<br><br>void add(int, int, int *OUTPUT);<br>int sub(int *INPUT, int *INPUT);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In Ruby, this allows you to pass simple values. For example:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>a = Example.add(3,4)<br>puts a<br>7<br>b = Example.sub(7,4)<br>puts b<br>3<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Notice how the <tt>INPUT</tt> parameters allow integer values to be passed
|
|
instead of pointers and how the <tt>OUTPUT</tt> parameter creates a return
|
|
result.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>If you don't want to use the names <tt>INPUT</tt> or <tt>OUTPUT</tt>, use the <tt>%apply</tt>
|
|
directive. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module Example<br>%include "typemaps.i"<br><br>%apply int *OUTPUT { int *result };<br>%apply int *INPUT { int *x, int *y};<br><br>void add(int x, int y, int *result);<br>int sub(int *x, int *y);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If a function mutates one of its parameters like this,
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void negate(int *x) {<br> *x = -(*x);<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>you can use <tt>INOUT</tt> like this:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%include "typemaps.i"<br>...<br>void negate(int *INOUT);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In Ruby, a mutated parameter shows up as a return value. For example:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>a = Example.negate(3)<br>print a<br>-3<br><br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The most common use of these special typemap rules is to handle functions that
|
|
return more than one value. For example, sometimes a function returns a result
|
|
as well as a special error code:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>/* send message, return number of bytes sent, success code, and error_code */<br>int send_message(char *text, int *success, int *error_code);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
To wrap such a function, simply use the <tt>OUTPUT</tt> rule above. For
|
|
example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br>%include "typemaps.i"<br>...<br>int send_message(char *, int *OUTPUT, int *OUTPUT);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When used in Ruby, the function will return an array of multiple values.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>bytes, success, error_code = send_message("Hello World")<br>if not success<br> print "error #{error_code} : in send_message"<br>else<br> print "Sent", bytes<br>end<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Another way to access multiple return values is to use the <tt>%apply</tt> rule.
|
|
In the following example, the parameters rows and columns are related to SWIG
|
|
as <tt>OUTPUT</tt> values through the use of <tt>%apply</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module Example<br>%include "typemaps.i"<br>%apply int *OUTPUT { int *rows, int *columns };<br>...<br>void get_dimensions(Matrix *m, int *rows, int*columns);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In Ruby:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>r, c = Example.get_dimensions(m)<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H2><a name="Ruby_nn28"></a>27.5 Simple exception handling
|
|
</H2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The SWIG <tt>%exception</tt> directive can be used to define a user-definable
|
|
exception handler that can convert C/C++ errors into Ruby exceptions. The
|
|
chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">Customization Features</a>
|
|
contains more details, but suppose you have a C++ class like the following :
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class DoubleArray {<br> private:<br> int n;<br> double *ptr;<br> public:<br> // Create a new array of fixed size<br> DoubleArray(int size) {<br> ptr = new double[size];<br> n = size;<br> }<br> // Destroy an array<br> ~DoubleArray() {<br> delete ptr;<br> }<br> // Return the length of the array<br> int length() {<br> return n;<br> }<br><br> // Get an array item and perform bounds checking.<br> double getitem(int i) {<br> if ((i >= 0) && (i < n))<br> return ptr[i];<br> else<br> throw RangeError();<br> }<br> // Set an array item and perform bounds checking.<br> void setitem(int i, double val) {<br> if ((i >= 0) && (i < n))<br> ptr[i] = val;<br> else {<br> throw RangeError();<br> }<br> }<br> };<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Since several methods in this class can throw an exception for an out-of-bounds
|
|
access, you might want to catch this in the Ruby extension by writing the
|
|
following in an interface file:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%exception {<br> try {<br> $action<br> }<br> catch (const RangeError&) {<br> static VALUE cpperror = rb_define_class("CPPError", rb_eStandardError);<br> rb_raise(cpperror, "Range error.");<br> }<br>}<br><br>class DoubleArray {<br> ...<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The exception handling code is inserted directly into generated wrapper
|
|
functions. When an exception handler is defined, errors can be caught and used
|
|
to gracefully raise a Ruby exception instead of forcing the entire program to
|
|
terminate with an uncaught error.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>As shown, the exception handling code will be added to every wrapper function.
|
|
Because this is somewhat inefficient, you might consider refining the exception
|
|
handler to only apply to specific methods like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%exception getitem {<br> try {<br> $action<br> }<br> catch (const RangeError&) {<br> static VALUE cpperror = rb_define_class("CPPError", rb_eStandardError);<br> rb_raise(cpperror, "Range error in getitem.");<br> }<br>}<br><br>%exception setitem {<br> try {<br> $action<br> }<br> catch (const RangeError&) {<br> static VALUE cpperror = rb_define_class("CPPError", rb_eStandardError);<br> rb_raise(cpperror, "Range error in setitem.");<br> }<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In this case, the exception handler is only attached to methods and functions
|
|
named <tt>getitem</tt> and <tt>setitem</tt>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Since SWIG's exception handling is user-definable, you are not limited to C++
|
|
exception handling. See the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">Customization
|
|
Features</a> for more examples.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>When raising a Ruby exception from C/C++, use the <tt>rb_raise()</tt> function
|
|
as shown above. The first argument passed to <tt>rb_raise()</tt> is the
|
|
exception type. You can raise a custom exception type (like the <tt>cpperror</tt>
|
|
example shown above) or one of the built-in Ruby exception types. For a list of
|
|
the standard Ruby exception classes, consult a Ruby reference such as <a href="http://www.rubycentral.com/book">
|
|
<em>Programming Ruby</em></a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H2><a name="Ruby_nn29"></a>27.5 Typemaps</H2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
This section describes how you can modify SWIG's default wrapping behavior for
|
|
various C/C++ datatypes using the <tt>%typemap</tt> directive. This is an
|
|
advanced topic that assumes familiarity with the Ruby C API as well as the
|
|
material in the "<a href="Typemaps.html#Typemaps">Typemaps</a>" chapter.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Before proceeding, it should be stressed that typemaps are not a required part
|
|
of using SWIG---the default wrapping behavior is enough in most cases. Typemaps
|
|
are only used if you want to change some aspect of the primitive C-Ruby
|
|
interface.</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn30"></a>27.5.1 What is a typemap?</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
A typemap is nothing more than a code generation rule that is attached to a
|
|
specific C datatype. For example, to convert integers from Ruby to C, you might
|
|
define a typemap like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>%typemap(in) int {<br> $1 = (int) NUM2INT($input);<br> printf("Received an integer : %d\n",$1);<br>}<br><br>%inline %{<br>extern int fact(int n);<br>%}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Typemaps are always associated with some specific aspect of code generation. In
|
|
this case, the "in" method refers to the conversion of input arguments to
|
|
C/C++. The datatype <tt>int</tt> is the datatype to which the typemap will be
|
|
applied. The supplied C code is used to convert values. In this code a number
|
|
of special variables prefaced by a <tt>$</tt> are used. The <tt>$1</tt> variable
|
|
is placeholder for a local variable of type <tt>int</tt>. The <tt>$input</tt> variable
|
|
is the input Ruby object.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>When this example is compiled into a Ruby module, the following sample code:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>require 'example'<br><br>puts Example.fact(6)<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>prints the result:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>Received an integer : 6<br>720<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In this example, the typemap is applied to all occurrences of the <tt>int</tt> datatype.
|
|
You can refine this by supplying an optional parameter name. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>%typemap(in) int n {<br> $1 = (int) NUM2INT($input);<br> printf("n = %d\n",$1);<br>}<br><br>%inline %{<br>extern int fact(int n);<br>%}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In this case, the typemap code is only attached to arguments that exactly match
|
|
"<tt>int n</tt>".
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>The application of a typemap to specific datatypes and argument names involves
|
|
more than simple text-matching--typemaps are fully integrated into the SWIG
|
|
type-system. When you define a typemap for <tt>int</tt>, that typemap applies
|
|
to <tt>int</tt> and qualified variations such as <tt>const int</tt>. In
|
|
addition, the typemap system follows <tt>typedef</tt> declarations. For
|
|
example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) int n {<br> $1 = (int) NUM2INT($input);<br> printf("n = %d\n",$1);<br>}<br><br>typedef int Integer;<br>extern int fact(Integer n); // Above typemap is applied<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
However, the matching of <tt>typedef</tt> only occurs in one direction. If you
|
|
defined a typemap for <tt>Integer</tt>, it is not applied to arguments of type <tt>int</tt>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Typemaps can also be defined for groups of consecutive arguments. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (char *str, int len) {<br> $1 = STR2CSTR($input);<br> $2 = (int) RSTRING($input)->len;<br>};<br><br>int count(char c, char *str, int len);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When a multi-argument typemap is defined, the arguments are always handled as a
|
|
single Ruby object. This allows the function <tt>count</tt> to be used as
|
|
follows (notice how the length parameter is omitted):
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>puts Example.count('o','Hello World')<br>2<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn31"></a>27.5.2 Ruby typemaps</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The previous section illustrated an "in" typemap for converting Ruby objects to
|
|
C. A variety of different typemap methods are defined by the Ruby module. For
|
|
example, to convert a C integer back into a Ruby object, you might define an
|
|
"out" typemap like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(out) int {<br> $result = INT2NUM($1);<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The following list details all of the typemap methods that can be used by the
|
|
Ruby module:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(in) </tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Converts Ruby objects to input function arguments
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(out)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Converts return value of a C function to a Ruby object
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(varin)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Assigns a C global variable from a Ruby object
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(varout)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Returns a C global variable as a Ruby object
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(freearg)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Cleans up a function argument (if necessary)
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(argout)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Output argument processing
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(ret)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Cleanup of function return values
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(memberin)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Setting of structure/class member data
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(globalin)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Setting of C global variables
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(check)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Checks function input values.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(default)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Set a default value for an argument (making it optional).
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>%typemap(arginit)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Initialize an argument to a value before any conversions occur.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Examples of these typemaps appears in the <a href="#ruby_typemap_examples">section
|
|
on typemap examples</a>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn32"></a>27.5.3 Typemap variables</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
Within a typemap, a number of special variables prefaced with a <tt>$</tt> may
|
|
appear. A full list of variables can be found in the "<a href="Typemaps.html#Typemaps">Typemaps</a>"
|
|
chapter. This is a list of the most common variables:
|
|
<p><tt>$1</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">A C local variable corresponding to the actual type specified
|
|
in the <tt>%typemap</tt> directive. For input values, this is a C local
|
|
variable that is supposed to hold an argument value. For output values, this is
|
|
the raw result that is supposed to be returned to Ruby.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>$input</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">A <tt>VALUE</tt> holding a raw Ruby object with an argument or
|
|
variable value.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>$result</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">A <tt>VALUE</tt> that holds the result to be returned to Ruby.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>$1_name</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">The parameter name that was matched.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>$1_type</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">The actual C datatype matched by the typemap.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>$1_ltype</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">An assignable version of the datatype matched by the typemap (a
|
|
type that can appear on the left-hand-side of a C assignment operation). This
|
|
type is stripped of qualifiers and may be an altered version of <tt>$1_type</tt>.
|
|
All arguments and local variables in wrapper functions are declared using this
|
|
type so that their values can be properly assigned.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>$symname</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">The Ruby name of the wrapper function being created.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn33"></a>27.5.4 Useful Functions</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
When you write a typemap, you usually have to work directly with Ruby objects.
|
|
The following functions may prove to be useful. (These functions plus many more
|
|
can be found in <a href="http://www.rubycentral.com/book"><em>Programming Ruby</em></a>,
|
|
by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt.)
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p><a name="n34"></a></p>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn34"></a>27.5.4.1 C Datatypes to Ruby Objects</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>INT2NUM(long or int) - int to Fixnum or Bignum<br>INT2FIX(long or int) - int to Fixnum (faster than INT2NUM)<br>CHR2FIX(char) - char to Fixnum<br>rb_str_new2(char*) - char* to String<br>rb_float_new(double) - double to Float<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn35"></a>27.5.4.2 Ruby Objects to C Datatypes</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre> int NUM2INT(Numeric)<br> int FIX2INT(Numeric)<br> unsigned int NUM2UINT(Numeric)<br> unsigned int FIX2UINT(Numeric)<br> long NUM2LONG(Numeric)<br> long FIX2LONG(Numeric)<br>unsigned long FIX2ULONG(Numeric)<br> char NUM2CHR(Numeric or String)<br> char * STR2CSTR(String)<br> char * rb_str2cstr(String, int*length)<br> double NUM2DBL(Numeric)<br><br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn36"></a>27.5.4.3 Macros for VALUE</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<tt>RSTRING(str)->len</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">length of the Ruby string</div>
|
|
<p><tt>RSTRING(str)->ptr</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">pointer to string storage</div>
|
|
<p><tt>RARRAY(arr)->len</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">length of the Ruby array</div>
|
|
<p><tt>RARRAY(arr)->capa</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">capacity of the Ruby array</div>
|
|
<p><tt>RARRAY(arr)->ptr</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">pointer to array storage</div>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn37"></a>27.5.4.4 Exceptions</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<tt>void rb_raise(VALUE exception, const char *fmt, ...)</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Raises an exception. The given format string <i>fmt</i> and remaining arguments
|
|
are interpreted as with <tt>printf()</tt>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_fatal(const char *fmt, ...)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Raises a fatal exception, terminating the process. No rescue blocks are called,
|
|
but ensure blocks will be called. The given format string <i>fmt</i> and
|
|
remaining arguments are interpreted as with <tt>printf()</tt>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_bug(const char *fmt, ...)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Terminates the process immediately -- no handlers of any sort will be called.
|
|
The given format string <i>fmt</i> and remaining arguments are interpreted as
|
|
with <tt>printf()</tt>. You should call this function only if a fatal bug has
|
|
been exposed.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_sys_fail(const char *msg)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Raises a platform-specific exception corresponding to the last known system
|
|
error, with the given string <i>msg</i>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_rescue(VALUE (*body)(VALUE), VALUE args, VALUE(*rescue)(VALUE, VALUE),
|
|
VALUE rargs)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Executes <i>body</i> with the given <i>args</i>. If a <tt>StandardError</tt> exception
|
|
is raised, then execute <i>rescue</i> with the given <i>rargs</i>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_ensure(VALUE(*body)(VALUE), VALUE args, VALUE(*ensure)(VALUE), VALUE
|
|
eargs)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Executes <i>body</i> with the given <i>args</i>. Whether or not an exception is
|
|
raised, execute <i>ensure</i> with the given <i>rargs</i> after <i>body</i> has
|
|
completed.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_protect(VALUE (*body)(VALUE), VALUE args, int *result)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Executes <i>body</i> with the given <i>args</i> and returns nonzero in result
|
|
if any exception was raised.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_notimplement()</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Raises a <tt>NotImpError</tt> exception to indicate that the enclosed function
|
|
is not implemented yet, or not available on this platform.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_exit(int status)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Exits Ruby with the given <i>status</i>. Raises a <tt>SystemExit</tt> exception
|
|
and calls registered exit functions and finalizers.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_warn(const char *fmt, ...)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Unconditionally issues a warning message to standard error. The given format
|
|
string <i>fmt</i> and remaining arguments are interpreted as with <tt>printf()</tt>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_warning(const char *fmt, ...)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Conditionally issues a warning message to standard error if Ruby was invoked
|
|
with the <tt>-w</tt> flag. The given format string <i>fmt</i> and remaining
|
|
arguments are interpreted as with <tt>printf()</tt>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn38"></a>27.5.4.5 Iterators</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<tt>void rb_iter_break()</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Breaks out of the enclosing iterator block.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_each(VALUE obj)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Invokes the <tt>each</tt> method of the given <i>obj</i>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_yield(VALUE arg)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Transfers execution to the iterator block in the current context, passing <i>arg</i>
|
|
as an argument. Multiple values may be passed in an array.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>int rb_block_given_p()</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Returns <tt>true</tt> if <tt>yield</tt> would execute a block in the current
|
|
context; that is, if a code block was passed to the current method and is
|
|
available to be called.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_iterate(VALUE (*method)(VALUE), VALUE args, VALUE (*block)(VALUE,
|
|
VALUE), VALUE arg2)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Invokes <i>method</i> with argument <i>args</i> and block <i>block</i>. A <tt>yield</tt>
|
|
from that method will invoke <i>block</i> with the argument given to <tt>yield</tt>,
|
|
and a second argument <i>arg2</i>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE rb_catch(const char *tag, VALUE (*proc)(VALUE, VALUE), VALUE value)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Equivalent to Ruby's <tt>catch</tt>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>void rb_throw(const char *tag, VALUE value)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
Equivalent to Ruby's <tt>throw</tt>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="ruby_typemap_examples"></a>27.5.5 Typemap Examples</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
This section includes a few examples of typemaps. For more examples, you might
|
|
look at the examples in the <tt>Example/ruby</tt> directory.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn40"></a>27.5.6 Converting a Ruby array to a char **</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
A common problem in many C programs is the processing of command line
|
|
arguments, which are usually passed in an array of <tt>NULL</tt> terminated
|
|
strings. The following SWIG interface file allows a Ruby Array instance to be
|
|
used as a <tt>char **</tt> object.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module argv<br><br>// This tells SWIG to treat char ** as a special case<br>%typemap(in) char ** {<br> /* Get the length of the array */<br> int size = RARRAY($input)->len; <br> int i;<br> $1 = (char **) malloc((size+1)*sizeof(char *));<br> /* Get the first element in memory */<br> VALUE *ptr = RARRAY($input)->ptr; <br> for (i=0; i < size; i++, ptr++)<br> /* Convert Ruby Object String to char* */<br> $1[i]= STR2CSTR(*ptr); <br> $1[i]=NULL; /* End of list */<br>}<br><br>// This cleans up the char ** array created before <br>// the function call<br><br>%typemap(freearg) char ** {<br> free((char *) $1);<br>}<br><br>// Now a test function<br>%inline %{<br>int print_args(char **argv) {<br> int i = 0;<br> while (argv[i]) {<br> printf("argv[%d] = %s\n", i,argv[i]);<br> i++;<br> }<br> return i;<br>}<br>%}<br><br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When this module is compiled, the wrapped C function now operates as follows :
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>require 'Argv'<br>Argv.print_args(["Dave","Mike","Mary","Jane","John"])<br>argv[0] = Dave<br>argv[1] = Mike<br>argv[2] = Mary<br>argv[3] = Jane<br>argv[4] = John<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In the example, two different typemaps are used. The "in" typemap is used to
|
|
receive an input argument and convert it to a C array. Since dynamic memory
|
|
allocation is used to allocate memory for the array, the "freearg" typemap is
|
|
used to later release this memory after the execution of the C function.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn41"></a>27.5.7 Collecting arguments in a hash</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ruby's solution to the "keyword arguments" capability of some other languages
|
|
is to allow the programmer to pass in one or more key-value pairs as arguments
|
|
to a function. All of those key-value pairs are collected in a single <tt>Hash</tt>
|
|
argument that's presented to the function. If it makes sense, you might want to
|
|
provide similar functionality for your Ruby interface. For example, suppose
|
|
you'd like to wrap this C function that collects information about people's
|
|
vital statistics:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>void setVitalStats(const char *person, int nattributes, const char **names, int *values);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
and you'd like to be able to call it from Ruby by passing in an arbitrary
|
|
number of key-value pairs as inputs, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>setVitalStats("Fred",<br> 'weight' => 270,<br> 'age' => 42<br> )<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
To make this work, you need to write a typemap that expects a Ruby <tt>Hash</tt>
|
|
as its input and somehow extracts the last three arguments (<i>nattributes</i>, <i>names</i>
|
|
and <i>values</i>) needed by your C function. Let's start with the basics:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br>}<br> </pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
This <tt>%typemap</tt> directive tells SWIG that we want to match any function
|
|
declaration that has the specified types and names of arguments somewhere in
|
|
the argument list. The fact that we specified the argument names (<i>nattributes</i>,
|
|
<i>names</i> and <i>values</i>) in our typemap is significant; this ensures
|
|
that SWIG won't try to apply this typemap to <i>other</i> functions it sees
|
|
that happen to have a similar declaration with different argument names. The
|
|
arguments that appear in the second set of parentheses (<i>keys_arr</i>, <i>i</i>,
|
|
<i>key</i> and <i>val</i>) define local variables that our typemap will need.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Since we expect the input argument to be a <tt>Hash</tt>, let's next add a check
|
|
for that:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> <b>Check_Type($input, T_HASH);</b><br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<tt>Check_Type()</tt> is just a macro (defined in the Ruby header files) that
|
|
confirms that the input argument is of the correct type; if it isn't, an
|
|
exception will be raised.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>The next task is to determine how many key-value pairs are present in the hash;
|
|
we'll assign this number to the first typemap argument (<tt>$1</tt>). This is a
|
|
little tricky since the Ruby/C API doesn't provide a public function for
|
|
querying the size of a hash, but we can get around that by calling the hash's <i>size</i>
|
|
method directly and converting its result to a C <tt>int</tt> value:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> Check_Type($input, T_HASH);<br> <b>$1 = NUM2INT(rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("size"), 0, NULL));</b><br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
So now we know the number of attributes. Next we need to initialize the second
|
|
and third typemap arguments (i.e. the two C arrays) to <tt>NULL</tt> and set
|
|
the stage for extracting the keys and values from the hash:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> Check_Type($input, T_HASH);<br> $1 = NUM2INT(rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("size"), 0, NULL));<br> <b>$2 = NULL;<br> $3 = NULL;<br> if ($1 > 0) {<br> $2 = (char **) malloc($1*sizeof(char *));<br> $3 = (int *) malloc($1*sizeof(int));<br> }</b><br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
There are a number of ways we could extract the keys and values from the input
|
|
hash, but the simplest approach is to first call the hash's <i>keys</i> method
|
|
(which returns a Ruby array of the keys) and then start looping over the
|
|
elements in that array:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> Check_Type($input, T_HASH);<br> $1 = NUM2INT(rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("size"), 0, NULL));<br> $2 = NULL;<br> $3 = NULL;<br> if ($1 > 0) {<br> $2 = (char **) malloc($1*sizeof(char *));<br> $3 = (int *) malloc($1*sizeof(int));<br> <b>keys_arr = rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("keys"), 0, NULL);<br> for (i = 0; i < $1; i++) {<br> }</b><br>}<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Recall that <i>keys_arr</i> and <i>i</i> are local variables for this typemap.
|
|
For each element in the <i>keys_arr</i> array, we want to get the key itself,
|
|
as well as the value corresponding to that key in the hash:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> Check_Type($input, T_HASH);<br> $1 = NUM2INT(rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("size"), 0, NULL));<br> $2 = NULL;<br> $3 = NULL;<br> if ($1 > 0) {<br> $2 = (char **) malloc($1*sizeof(char *));<br> $3 = (int *) malloc($1*sizeof(int));<br> keys_arr = rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("keys"), 0, NULL);<br> for (i = 0; i < $1; i++) {<br> <b>key = rb_ary_entry(keys_arr, i);<br> val = rb_hash_aref($input, key);</b><br>}<br>}<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
To be safe, we should again use the <tt>Check_Type()</tt> macro to confirm that
|
|
the key is a <tt>String</tt> and the value is a <tt>Fixnum</tt>:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> Check_Type($input, T_HASH);<br> $1 = NUM2INT(rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("size"), 0, NULL));<br> $2 = NULL;<br> $3 = NULL;<br> if ($1 > 0) {<br> $2 = (char **) malloc($1*sizeof(char *));<br> $3 = (int *) malloc($1*sizeof(int));<br> keys_arr = rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("keys"), 0, NULL);<br> for (i = 0; i < $1; i++) {<br> key = rb_ary_entry(keys_arr, i);<br> val = rb_hash_aref($input, key);<br> <b>Check_Type(key, T_STRING);<br> Check_Type(val, T_FIXNUM);</b><br>}<br>}<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Finally, we can convert these Ruby objects into their C equivalents and store
|
|
them in our local C arrays:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values)<br> (VALUE keys_arr, int i, VALUE key, VALUE val) {<br> Check_Type($input, T_HASH);<br> $1 = NUM2INT(rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("size"), 0, NULL));<br> $2 = NULL;<br> $3 = NULL;<br> if ($1 > 0) {<br> $2 = (char **) malloc($1*sizeof(char *));<br> $3 = (int *) malloc($1*sizeof(int));<br> keys_arr = rb_funcall($input, rb_intern("keys"), 0, NULL);<br> for (i = 0; i < $1; i++) {<br> key = rb_ary_entry(keys_arr, i);<br> val = rb_hash_aref($input, key);<br> Check_Type(key, T_STRING);<br> Check_Type(val, T_FIXNUM);<br> <b>$2[i] = STR2CSTR(key);<br> $3[i] = NUM2INT(val);</b><br>}<br>}<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
We're not done yet. Since we used <tt>malloc()</tt> to dynamically allocate the
|
|
memory used for the <i>names</i> and <i>values</i> arguments, we need to
|
|
provide a corresponding "freearg" typemap to free that memory so that there is
|
|
no memory leak. Fortunately, this typemap is a lot easier to write:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(freearg) (int nattributes, const char **names, const int *values) {<br> free((void *) $2);<br> free((void *) $3);<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
All of the code for this example, as well as a sample Ruby program that uses
|
|
the extension, can be found in the <tt>Examples/ruby/hashargs</tt> directory of
|
|
the SWIG distribution.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn42"></a>27.5.8 Pointer handling</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Occasionally, it might be necessary to convert pointer values that have been
|
|
stored using the SWIG typed-pointer representation. Since there are several
|
|
ways in which pointers can be represented, the following two functions are used
|
|
to safely perform this conversion:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p><tt>int SWIG_ConvertPtr(VALUE obj, void **ptr, swig_type_info *ty, int flags)</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Converts a Ruby object <i>obj</i> to a C pointer whose address
|
|
is <i>ptr</i> (i.e. <i>ptr</i> is a pointer to a pointer). The third argument, <i>ty</i>,
|
|
is a pointer to a SWIG type descriptor structure. If <i>ty</i> is not <tt>NULL</tt>,
|
|
that type information is used to validate type compatibility and other aspects
|
|
of the type conversion. If <i>flags</i> is non-zero, any type errors
|
|
encountered during this validation result in a Ruby <tt>TypeError</tt> exception
|
|
being raised; if <i>flags</i> is zero, such type errors will cause <tt>SWIG_ConvertPtr()</tt>
|
|
to return -1 but not raise an exception. If <i>ty</i> is <tt>NULL</tt>, no
|
|
type-checking is performed.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<tt>VALUE SWIG_NewPointerObj(void *ptr, swig_type_info *ty, int own)</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Creates a new Ruby pointer object. Here, <i>ptr</i> is the
|
|
pointer to convert, <i>ty</i> is the SWIG type descriptor structure that
|
|
describes the type, and <i>own</i> is a flag that indicates whether or not Ruby
|
|
should take ownership of the pointer (i.e. whether Ruby should free this data
|
|
when the corresponding Ruby instance is garbage-collected).
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Both of these functions require the use of a special SWIG type-descriptor
|
|
structure. This structure contains information about the mangled name of the
|
|
datatype, type-equivalence information, as well as information about converting
|
|
pointer values under C++ inheritance. For a type of <tt>Foo *</tt>, the type
|
|
descriptor structure is usually accessed as follows:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
<pre>Foo *foo;<br>SWIG_ConvertPtr($input, (void **) &foo, SWIGTYPE_p_Foo, 1);<br><br>VALUE obj;<br>obj = SWIG_NewPointerObj(f, SWIGTYPE_p_Foo, 0);<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In a typemap, the type descriptor should always be accessed using the special
|
|
typemap variable <tt>$1_descriptor</tt>. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">
|
|
<pre>%typemap(in) Foo * {<br> SWIG_ConvertPtr($input, (void **) &$1, $1_descriptor, 1);<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H4><a name="Ruby_nn43"></a>27.5.8.1 Ruby Datatype Wrapping</H4>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<tt>VALUE Data_Wrap_Struct(VALUE class, void (*mark)(void *), void (*free)(void *),
|
|
void *ptr)</tt>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Given a pointer <i>ptr</i> to some C data, and the two garbage
|
|
collection routines for this data (<i>mark</i> and <i>free</i>), return a <tt>VALUE</tt>
|
|
for the Ruby object.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>VALUE Data_Make_Struct(VALUE class, <i>c-type</i>, void (*mark)(void *), void
|
|
(*free)(void *), <i>c-type</i> *ptr)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Allocates a new instance of a C data type <i>c-type</i>,
|
|
assigns it to the pointer <i>ptr</i>, then wraps that pointer with <tt>Data_Wrap_Struct()</tt>
|
|
as above.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p><tt>Data_Get_Struct(VALUE obj, <i>c-type</i>, <i>c-type</i> *ptr)</tt></p>
|
|
<div class="indent">Retrieves the original C pointer of type <i>c-type</i> from the
|
|
data object <i>obj</i> and assigns that pointer to <i>ptr</i>.
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H2><a name="ruby_operator_overloading"></a>27.6 Operator overloading</H2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG allows operator overloading with, by using the <tt>%extend</tt> or <tt>%rename</tt>
|
|
commands in SWIG and the following operator names (derived from Python):
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre><b> General</b> <br>__repr__ - inspect<br>__str__ - to_s<br>__cmp__ - <=><br>__hash__ - hash<br>__nonzero__ - nonzero?<br><br><b> Callable</b> <br>__call__ - call<br><br><b> Collection</b> <br>__len__ - length<br>__getitem__ - []<br>__setitem__ - []=<br><br><b> Numeric</b> <br>__add__ - +<br>__sub__ - -<br>__mul__ - *<br>__div__ - /<br>__mod__ - %<br>__divmod__ - divmod<br>__pow__ - **<br>__lshift__ - <<<br>__rshift__ - >><br>__and__ - &<br>__xor__ - ^<br>__or__ - |<br>__neg__ - -@<br>__pos__ - +@<br>__abs__ - abs<br>__invert__ - ~<br>__int__ - to_i<br>__float__ - to_f<br>__coerce__ - coerce<br><br><b>Additions in 1.3.13 </b> <br>__lt__ - < <br>__le__ - <=<br>__eq__ - ==<br>__gt__ - ><br>__ge__ - >=<br><br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note that although SWIG supports the <tt>__eq__</tt> magic method name for
|
|
defining an equivalence operator, there is no separate method for handling <i>inequality</i>
|
|
since Ruby parses the expression <i>a != b</i> as <i>!(a == b)</i>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn45"></a>27.6.1 Example: STL Vector to Ruby Array</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em><b>FIXME: This example is out of place here!</b></em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Another use for macros and type maps is to create a Ruby array from a STL vector
|
|
of pointers. In essence, copy of all the pointers in the vector into a Ruby
|
|
array. The use of the macro is to make the typemap so generic that any vector
|
|
with pointers can use the type map. The following is an example of how to
|
|
construct this type of macro/typemap and should give insight into constructing
|
|
similar typemaps for other STL structures:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%define PTR_VECTOR_TO_RUBY_ARRAY(vectorclassname, classname)<br>%typemap(ruby, out) vectorclassname &, const vectorclassname & {<br> VALUE arr = rb_ary_new2($1->size());<br> vectorclassname::iterator i = $1->begin(), iend = $1->end();<br> for ( ; i!=iend; i++ )<br> rb_ary_push(arr, Data_Wrap_Struct(c ## classname.klass, 0, 0, *i));<br> $result = arr;<br>}<br>%typemap(ruby, out) vectorclassname, const vectorclassname {<br> VALUE arr = rb_ary_new2($1.size());<br> vectorclassname::iterator i = $1.begin(), iend = $1.end();<br> for ( ; i!=iend; i++ )<br> rb_ary_push(arr, Data_Wrap_Struct(c ## classname.klass, 0, 0, *i));<br> $result = arr;<br>}<br>%enddef<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note, that the "<tt>c ## classname.klass"</tt> is used in the preprocessor step
|
|
to determine the actual object from the class name.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>To use the macro with a class Foo, the following is used:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>PTR_VECTOR_TO_RUBY_ARRAY(vector<foo *="">, Foo)<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It is also possible to create a STL vector of Ruby objects:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%define RUBY_ARRAY_TO_PTR_VECTOR(vectorclassname, classname)<br>%typemap(ruby, in) vectorclassname &, const vectorclassname & {<br> Check_Type($input, T_ARRAY);<br> vectorclassname *vec = new vectorclassname;<br> int len = RARRAY($input)->len;<br> for (int i=0; i!=len; i++) {<br> VALUE inst = rb_ary_entry($input, i);<br> //The following _should_ work but doesn't on HPUX<br> // Check_Type(inst, T_DATA);<br> classname *element = NULL;<br> Data_Get_Struct(inst, classname, element);<br> vec->push_back(element);<br> }<br> $1 = vec;<br>}<br><br>%typemap(ruby, freearg) vectorclassname &, const vectorclassname & {<br> delete $1;<br>}<br>%enddef<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It is also possible to create a Ruby array from a vector of static data types:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%define VECTOR_TO_RUBY_ARRAY(vectorclassname, classname)<br>%typemap(ruby, out) vectorclassname &, const vectorclassname & {<br> VALUE arr = rb_ary_new2($1->size()); <br> vectorclassname::iterator i = $1->begin(), iend = $1->end();<br> for ( ; i!=iend; i++ )<br> rb_ary_push(arr, Data_Wrap_Struct(c ## classname.klass, 0, 0, &(*i)));<br> $result = arr;<br>}<br>%typemap(ruby, out) vectorclassname, const vectorclassname {<br> VALUE arr = rb_ary_new2($1.size()); <br> vectorclassname::iterator i = $1.begin(), iend = $1.end();<br> for ( ; i!=iend; i++ )<br> rb_ary_push(arr, Data_Wrap_Struct(c ## classname.klass, 0, 0, &(*i)));<br> $result = arr;<br>}<br>%enddef<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H2><a name="Ruby_nn46"></a>27.7 Advanced Topics</H2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn47"></a>27.7.1 Creating Multi-Module Packages</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The chapter on <a href="Modules.html">Working with Modules</a> discusses the
|
|
basics of creating multi-module extensions with SWIG, and in particular the
|
|
considerations for sharing runtime type information among the different
|
|
modules.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>As an example, consider one module's interface file (<tt>shape.i</tt>) that
|
|
defines our base class:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module shape<br><br>%{<br>#include "Shape.h"<br>%}<br><br>class Shape {<br>protected:<br> double xpos;<br> double ypos;<br>protected:<br> Shape(double x, double y);<br>public:<br> double getX() const;<br> double getY() const;<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
We also have a separate interface file (<tt>circle.i</tt>) that defines a
|
|
derived class:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module circle<br><br>%{<br>#include "Shape.h"<br>#include "Circle.h"<br>%}<br><br>// Import the base class definition from Shape module<br>%import shape.i<br><br>class Circle : public Shape {<br>protected:<br> double radius;<br>public:<br> Circle(double x, double y, double r);<br> double getRadius() const;<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
We'll start by building the <b>Shape</b> extension module:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>swig -c++ -ruby shape.i</b>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
SWIG generates a wrapper file named <tt>shape_wrap.cxx</tt>. To compile this
|
|
into a dynamically loadable extension for Ruby, prepare an <tt>extconf.rb</tt> script
|
|
using this template:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>require 'mkmf'<br><br># Since the SWIG runtime support library for Ruby<br># depends on the Ruby library, make sure it's in the list<br># of libraries.<br>$libs = append_library($libs, Config::CONFIG['RUBY_INSTALL_NAME'])<br><br># Create the makefile<br>create_makefile('shape')<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Run this script to create a <tt>Makefile</tt> and then type <tt>make</tt> to
|
|
build the shared library:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>ruby extconf.rb</b><br>creating Makefile<br>$ <b>make</b><br>g++ -fPIC -g -O2 -I. -I/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.7/i686-linux \<br>-I. -c shape_wrap.cxx<br>gcc -shared -L/usr/local/lib -o shape.so shape_wrap.o -L. \<br>-lruby -lruby -lc<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note that depending on your installation, the outputs may be slightly
|
|
different; these outputs are those for a Linux-based development environment.
|
|
The end result should be a shared library (here, <tt>shape.so</tt>) containing
|
|
the extension module code. Now repeat this process in a separate directory for
|
|
the <b>Circle</b> module:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Run SWIG to generate the wrapper code (<tt>circle_wrap.cxx</tt>);
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Write an <tt>extconf.rb</tt> script that your end-users can use to create a
|
|
platform-specific <tt>Makefile</tt> for the extension;
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Build the shared library for this extension by typing <tt>make</tt>.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Once you've built both of these extension modules, you can test them
|
|
interactively in IRB to confirm that the <tt>Shape</tt> and <tt>Circle</tt> modules
|
|
are properly loaded and initialized:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb</b><br>irb(main):001:0> <b>require 'shape'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):002:0> <b>require 'circle'</b><br>true<br>irb(main):003:0> <b>c = Circle::Circle.new(5, 5, 20)</b><br>#<Circle::Circle:0xa097208><br>irb(main):004:0> <b>c.kind_of? Shape::Shape</b><br>true<br>irb(main):005:0> <b>c.getX()</b><br>5.0<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn48"></a>27.7.2 Defining Aliases</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
It's a fairly common practice in the Ruby built-ins and standard library to
|
|
provide aliases for method names. For example, <em>Array#size</em> is an alias
|
|
for <em>Array#length</em>. If you'd like to provide an alias for one of your
|
|
class' instance methods, one approach is to use SWIG's <tt>%extend</tt> directive
|
|
to add a new method of the aliased name that calls the original function. For
|
|
example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class MyArray {<br>public:<br> // Construct an empty array<br> MyArray();<br> <br> // Return the size of this array<br> size_t length() const;<br>};<br><br>%extend MyArray {<br> // MyArray#size is an alias for MyArray#length<br> size_t size() const {<br> return self->length();<br> }<br>}<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A better solution is to instead use the <tt>%alias</tt> directive (unique to
|
|
SWIG's Ruby module). The previous example could then be rewritten as:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>// MyArray#size is an alias for MyArray#length<br>%alias MyArray::length "size";<br><br>class MyArray {<br>public:<br> // Construct an empty array<br> MyArray();<br> <br> // Return the size of this array<br> size_t length() const;<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Multiple aliases can be associated with a method by providing a comma-separated
|
|
list of aliases to the <tt>%alias</tt> directive, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%alias MyArray::length "amount,quantity,size";</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
From an end-user's standpoint, there's no functional difference between these
|
|
two approaches; i.e. they should get the same result from calling either <em>MyArray#size</em>
|
|
or <em>MyArray#length</em>. However, when the <tt>%alias</tt> directive is
|
|
used, SWIG doesn't need to generate all of the wrapper code that's usually
|
|
associated with added methods like our <em>MyArray::size()</em> example.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Note that the <tt>%alias</tt> directive is implemented using SWIG's "features"
|
|
mechanism and so the same name matching rules used for other kinds of features
|
|
apply (see the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">"Customization
|
|
Features"</a>) for more details).</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn49"></a>27.7.3 Predicate Methods</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Predicate methods in Ruby are those which return either <tt>true</tt> or <tt>false</tt>.
|
|
By convention, these methods' names end in a question mark; some examples from
|
|
built-in Ruby classes include <em>Array#empty?</em> (which returns <tt>true</tt>
|
|
for an array containing no elements) and <em>Object#instance_of?</em> (which
|
|
returns <tt>true</tt> if the object is an instance of the specified class). For
|
|
consistency with Ruby conventions you would also want your interface's
|
|
predicate methods' names to end in a question mark and return <tt>true</tt> or <tt>false</tt>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>One cumbersome solution to this problem is to rename the method (using SWIG's <tt>%rename</tt>
|
|
directive) and provide a custom typemap that converts the function's actual
|
|
return type to Ruby's <tt>true</tt> or <tt>false</tt>. For example:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%rename("is_it_safe?") is_it_safe();<br><br>%typemap(out) int is_it_safe <br> "$result = ($1 != 0) ? Qtrue : Qfalse;";<br><br>int is_it_safe();<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A better solution is to instead use the <tt>%predicate</tt> directive (unique
|
|
to SWIG's Ruby module) to designate certain methods as predicate methods. For
|
|
the previous example, this would look like:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%predicate is_it_safe();<br><br>int is_it_safe();<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>and to use this method from your Ruby code:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):001:0> <b>Example::is_it_safe?</b><br>true<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note that the <tt>%predicate</tt> directive is implemented using SWIG's
|
|
"features" mechanism and so the same name matching rules used for other kinds
|
|
of features apply (see the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">"Customization
|
|
Features"</a>) for more details).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn50"></a>27.7.4 Specifying Mixin Modules</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The Ruby language doesn't support multiple inheritance, but it does allow you
|
|
to mix one or more modules into a class using Ruby's <tt>include</tt> method.
|
|
For example, if you have a Ruby class that defines an <em>each</em> instance
|
|
method, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Set<br> def initialize<br> @members = []<br> end<br> <br> def each<br> @members.each { |m| yield m }<br> end<br>end<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
then you can mix-in Ruby's <tt>Enumerable</tt> module to easily add a lot of
|
|
functionality to your class:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>class Set<br> <b>include Enumerable</b><br>def initialize<br>@members = []<br>end<br>def each<br>@members.each { |m| yield m }<br>end<br>end<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
To get the same benefit for your SWIG-wrapped classes, you can use the <tt>%mixin</tt>
|
|
directive to specify the names of one or more modules that should be mixed-in
|
|
to a class. For the above example, the SWIG interface specification might look
|
|
like this:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%mixin Set "Enumerable";<br><br>class Set {<br>public:<br> // Constructor<br> Set();<br> <br> // Iterates through set members<br> void each();<br>};<br></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Multiple modules can be mixed into a class by providing a comma-separated list
|
|
of module names to the <tt>%mixin</tt> directive, e.g.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%mixin Set "Fee,Fi,Fo,Fum";</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note that the <tt>%mixin</tt> directive is implemented using SWIG's "features"
|
|
mechanism and so the same name matching rules used for other kinds of features
|
|
apply (see the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">"Customization
|
|
Features"</a>) for more details).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H2><a name="Ruby_nn51"></a>27.8 Memory Management</H2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>One of the most common issues in generating SWIG bindings for Ruby is proper
|
|
memory management. The key to proper memory management is clearly defining
|
|
whether a wrapper Ruby object owns the underlying C struct or C++ class. There
|
|
are two possibilities:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
The Ruby object is responsible for freeing the C struct or C++ object
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
The Ruby object should not free the C struct or C++ object because it will be
|
|
freed by the underlying C or C++ code</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>To complicate matters, object ownership may transfer from Ruby to C++ (or vice
|
|
versa) depending on what function or methods are invoked. Clearly, developing a
|
|
SWIG wrapper requires a thorough understanding of how the underlying library
|
|
manages memory.</p>
|
|
<h3><a name="Ruby_nn52" id="Ruby_nn52"></a>27.9.1 Mark and Sweep Garbage Collector
|
|
</h3>
|
|
<p>Ruby uses a mark and sweep garbage collector. When the garbage collector runs,
|
|
it finds all the "root" objects, including local variables, global variables,
|
|
global constants, hardware registers and the C stack. For each root object, the
|
|
garbage collector sets its mark flag to true and calls <tt>rb_gc_mark</tt> on
|
|
the object. The job of <tt>rb_gc_mark</tt> is to recursively mark all the
|
|
objects that a Ruby object has a reference to (ignoring those objects that have
|
|
already been marked). Those objects, in turn, may reference other objects. This
|
|
process will continue until all active objects have been "marked." After the
|
|
mark phase comes the sweep phase. In the sweep phase, all objects that have not
|
|
been marked will be garbage collected. For more information about the Ruby
|
|
garbage collector please refer to <a href="http://rubygarden.org/ruby/ruby?GCAndExtensions">
|
|
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://rubygarden.org/ruby/ruby?GCAndExtensions</span></a>.</p>
|
|
<p>The Ruby C/API provides extension developers two hooks into the garbage
|
|
collector - a "mark" function and a "sweep" function. By default these functions
|
|
are set to NULL.</p>
|
|
<p>If a C struct or C++ class references any other Ruby objects, then it must
|
|
provide a "mark" function. The "mark" function should identify any referenced
|
|
Ruby objects by calling the rb_gc_mark function for each one. Unsurprisingly,
|
|
this function will be called by the Ruby garbage during the "mark" phase.</p>
|
|
<p>During the sweep phase, Ruby destroys any unused objects. If any memory has been
|
|
allocated in creating the underlying C struct or C++ struct, then a "free"
|
|
function must be defined that deallocates this memory.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn53"></a>27.8.1 Object Ownership</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>As described above, memory management depends on clearly defining who is
|
|
responsible for freeing the underlying C struct or C++ class. If the Ruby
|
|
object is responsible for freeing the C++ object, then a "free" function must
|
|
be registered for the object. If the Ruby object is not responsible for freeing
|
|
the underlying memory, then a "free" function must not be registered for the
|
|
object.</p>
|
|
<p>For the most part, SWIG takes care of memory management issues. The rules it
|
|
uses are:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
When calling a C++ object's constructor from Ruby, SWIG will assign a "free"
|
|
function thereby making the Ruby object responsible for freeing the C++ object</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
When calling a C++ member function that returns a pointer, SWIG will not assign
|
|
a "free" function thereby making the underlying library responsible for freeing
|
|
the object.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>To make this clearer, let's look at an example. Assume we have a Foo and a Bar
|
|
class.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>/* File "RubyOwernshipExample.h" */<br><br>class Foo<br>{<br>public:<br> Foo() {}<br> ~Foo() {}<br>};<br><br>class Bar<br>{<br> Foo *foo_;<br>public:<br> Bar(): foo_(new Foo) {}<br> ~Bar() { delete foo_; }<br> Foo* get_foo() { return foo_; }<br> Foo* get_new_foo() { return new Foo; }<br> void set_foo(Foo *foo) { delete foo_; foo_ = foo; }<br>};<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>First, consider this Ruby code:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>foo = Foo.new</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In this case, the Ruby code calls the underlying <tt>Foo</tt> C++ constructor,
|
|
thus creating a new <tt>foo</tt> object. By default, SWIG will assign the new
|
|
Ruby object a "free" function. When the Ruby object is garbage collected, the
|
|
"free" function will be called. It in turn will call <tt>Foo's</tt> destructor.</p>
|
|
<p>Next, consider this code:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>bar = Bar.new<br>foo = bar.get_foo()</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In this case, the Ruby code calls a C++ member function, <tt>get_foo</tt>. By
|
|
default, SWIG will not assign the Ruby object a "free" function. Thus, when the
|
|
Ruby object is garbage collected the underlying C++ <tt>foo</tt> object is not
|
|
affected.</p>
|
|
<p>Unfortunately, the real world is not as simple as the examples above. For
|
|
example:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>bar = Bar.new<br>foo = bar.get_new_foo()</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>In this case, the default SWIG behavior for calling member functions is
|
|
incorrect. The Ruby object should assume ownership of the returned object. This
|
|
can be done by using the %newobject directive. See <a href="file:///d:/msys/1.0/src/SWIG/Doc/Manual/Customization.html#ownership">
|
|
Object ownership and %newobject</a> for more information.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>The SWIG default mappings are also incorrect in this case:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>foo = Foo.new<br>bar = Bar.new<br>bar.set_foo(foo)</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Without modification, this code will cause a segmentation fault. When the Ruby <tt>foo</tt>
|
|
object goes out of scope, it will free the underlying C++ <tt>foo</tt> object.
|
|
However, when the Ruby bar object goes out of scope, it will call the C++ bar
|
|
destructor which will also free the C++ <tt>foo</tt> object. The problem is
|
|
that object ownership is transferred from the Ruby object to the C++ object
|
|
when the <tt>set_foo</tt> method is called. This can be done by using the
|
|
special DISOWN type map, which was added to the Ruby bindings in SWIG-1.3.26.</p>
|
|
<p>Thus, a correct SWIG interface file correct mapping for these classes is:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>/* File RubyOwnershipExample.i */<br><br>%module RubyOwnershipExample<br><br>%{<br>#include "RubyOwnershipExample.h"<br>%}<br><br>class Foo<br>{<br>public:<br> Foo();<br> ~Foo();<br>};<br><br>class Bar<br>{<br> Foo *foo_;<br>public:<br> Bar();<br> ~Bar();<br> Foo* get_foo();<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> %newobject get_new_foo;</span><br> Foo* get_new_foo();<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> %apply SWIGTYPE *DISOWN {Foo *foo};</span><br> void set_foo(Foo *foo);<br><span style="font-weight: bold;"> %clear Foo *foo;</span><br>};<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<p>
|
|
This code can be seen in swig/examples/ruby/tracking.</p>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn54"></a>27.8.2 Object Tracking</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>The remaining parts of this section will use the class library shown below to
|
|
illustrate different memory management techniques. The class library models a
|
|
zoo and the animals it contains.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module zoo<br><br>%{<br>#include <string><br>#include <vector><br><br>#include "zoo.h"<br>%}<br><br>class Animal<br>{<br>private:<br> typedef std::vector<Animal*> AnimalsType;<br> typedef AnimalsType::iterator IterType;<br>protected:<br> AnimalsType animals;<br>protected:<br> std::string name_;<br>public:<br> // Construct an animal with this name<br> Animal(const char* name) : name_(name) {}<br> <br> // Return the animal's name<br> const char* get_name() const { return name.c_str(); }<br>};<br><br>class Zoo<br>{<br>protected:<br> std::vector<animal *=""> animals;<br> <br>public:<br> // Construct an empty zoo<br> Zoo() {}<br> <br> /* Create a new animal. */<br> static Animal* Zoo::create_animal(const char* name)<br> {<br> return new Animal(name);<br> }<br><br> // Add a new animal to the zoo<br> void add_animal(Animal* animal) {<br> animals.push_back(animal); <br> }<br><br> Animal* remove_animal(size_t i) {<br> Animal* result = this->animals[i];<br> IterType iter = this->animals.begin();<br> std::advance(iter, i);<br> this->animals.erase(iter);<br><br> return result;<br> }<br> <br> // Return the number of animals in the zoo<br> size_t get_num_animals() const {<br> return animals.size(); <br> }<br> <br> // Return a pointer to the ith animal<br> Animal* get_animal(size_t i) const {<br> return animals[i]; <br> }<br>};<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Let's say you SWIG this code and then run IRB:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <span style="font-weight: bold;">irb</span><br>irb(main):001:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">require 'example'</span><br>=> true<br><br>irb(main):002:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = Example::Animal.new("tiger1")</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2be3820><br><br>irb(main):004:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1.get_name()</span><br>=> "tiger1"<br><br>irb(main):003:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2be0a60><br><br>irb(main):006:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.add_animal(tiger)</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.get_num_animals()</span><br>=> 1<br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2 = zoo.remove_animal(0)</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2bd4a18><br><br>irb(main):008:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2.get_name()</span><br>=> "tiger1"<br><br>irb(main):009:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1.equal?(tiger2)</span><br>=> false<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Pay particular attention to the code <tt>tiger1.equal?(tiger2)</tt>. Note that
|
|
the two Ruby objects are not the same - but they reference the same underlying
|
|
C++ object. This can cause problems. For example:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>irb(main):010:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = nil</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):011:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">GC.start</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):012:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2.get_name()</span><br>(irb):12: [BUG] Segmentation fault<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>After the the garbage collector runs, as a result of our call to <tt>GC.start</tt>,
|
|
calling<tt>tiger2.get_name()</tt> causes a segmentation fault. The problem is
|
|
that when <tt>tiger1</tt> is garbage collected, it frees the underlying C++
|
|
object. Thus, when <tt>tiger2</tt> calls the <tt>get_name()</tt> method it
|
|
invokes it on a destroyed object.</p>
|
|
<p>This problem can be avoided if SWIG enforces a one-to-one mapping between Ruby
|
|
objects and C++ classes. This can be done via the use of the <tt>%trackobjects</tt>
|
|
functionality available in SWIG-1.3.26. and later.</p>
|
|
<p>When the <tt>%trackobjects</tt> is turned on, SWIG automatically keeps track of
|
|
mappings between C++ objects and Ruby objects. Note that enabling object
|
|
tracking causes a slight performance degradation. Test results show this
|
|
degradation to be about 3% to 5% when creating and destroying 100,000 animals
|
|
in a row.</p>
|
|
<p>Since <tt>%trackobjects</tt> is implemented as a <tt>%feature</tt>, it uses the same name matching
|
|
rules as other kinds of features (see the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">
|
|
"Customization Features"</a>) . Thus it can be applied on a class-by-class
|
|
basis if needed. To fix the example above:</p>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>%{<br>#include "example.h"<br>%}<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">/* Tell SWIG that create_animal creates a new object */</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">%newobject Zoo::create_animal;</span><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">/* Tell SWIG to keep track of mappings between C/C++ structs/classes. */</span><br style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">%trackobjects;</span><br><br>%include "example.h"</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>When this code runs we see:<br>
|
|
<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <span style="font-weight: bold;">irb</span><br>irb(main):001:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">require 'example'</span><br>=> true<br><br>irb(main):002:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = Example::Animal.new("tiger1")</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2be37d8><br><br>irb(main):003:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2be0a18><br><br>irb(main):004:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.add_animal(tiger1)</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):006:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2 = zoo.remove_animal(0)</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2be37d8><br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1.equal?(tiger2)</span><br>=> true<br><br>irb(main):008:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = nil</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):009:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">GC.start</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):010:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger.get_name()</span><br>=> "tiger1"<br>irb(main):011:0><br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>For those who are interested, object tracking is implemented by storing Ruby
|
|
objects in a hash table and keying them on C++ pointers. The underlying API is:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>static void SWIG_RubyAddTracking(void* ptr, VALUE object);<br>static VALUE SWIG_RubyInstanceFor(void* ptr) ;<br>static void SWIG_RubyRemoveTracking(void* ptr);<br>static void SWIG_RubyUnlinkObjects(void* ptr);</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>When an object is created, SWIG will automatically call the <tt>SWIG_RubyAddTracking</tt>
|
|
method. Similarly, when an object is deleted, SWIG will call the <tt>SWIG_RubyRemoveTracking</tt>.
|
|
When an object is returned to Ruby from C++, SWIG will use the <tt>SWIG_RubyInstanceFor</tt>
|
|
method to ensure a one-to-one mapping from Ruby to C++ objects. Last, the <tt>RubyUnlinkObjects</tt>
|
|
method unlinks a Ruby object from its underlying C++ object.</p>
|
|
<p>In general, you will only need to use the <tt>SWIG_RubyInstanceFor</tt>, which
|
|
is required for implementing mark functions as shown below. However, if you
|
|
implement your own free functions (see below) you may also have to call the<tt>SWIG_RubyRemoveTracking</tt>
|
|
and <tt>RubyUnlinkObjects</tt> methods.</p>
|
|
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn55"></a>27.8.3 Mark Functions</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>With a bit more testing, we see that our class library still has problems. For
|
|
example:<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb</b><br>irb(main):001:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">require 'example'</span><br>=> true<br><br>irb(main):002:0> tiger1 = <span style="font-weight: bold;">Example::Animal.new("tiger1")</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2bea6a8><br><br>irb(main):003:0> zoo = <span style="font-weight: bold;">Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2be7960><br><br>irb(main):004:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.add_animal(tiger1)</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = nil</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">GC.start</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):005:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2 = zoo.get_animal(0)</span><br>(irb):12: [BUG] Segmentation fault</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>The problem is that Ruby does not know that the <tt>zoo</tt> object contains a
|
|
reference to a Ruby object. Thus, when Ruby garbage collects
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">tiger1</span>
|
|
it frees the underlying C++ object.</p>
|
|
<p>This can be fixed by implementing a
|
|
<tt>mark</tt> function as described above in the <a href="Ruby.html#Ruby_nn52">Mark and Sweep Garbage
|
|
Collector</a> section. You can specify a mark function by using the <tt>%markfunc</tt>
|
|
directive. Since the <tt>%markfunc</tt> directive is implemented using SWIG's'
|
|
"features" mechanism it uses the same name matching rules as other kinds of
|
|
features (see the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">"Customization
|
|
Features"</a> for more details).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>A <tt>mark</tt> function takes a single argument, which is a pointer to the C++
|
|
object being marked; it should, in turn, call <tt>rb_gc_mark()</tt> for any
|
|
instances that are reachable from the current object. The mark function for our <tt>
|
|
Zoo</tt> class should therefore loop over all of the C++ animal objects in
|
|
the zoo object, look up their Ruby object equivalent, and then call <tt>rb_gc_mark()</tt>.
|
|
One possible implementation is:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>%{<br>#include "example.h"<br>%}<br><br>/* Keep track of mappings between C/C++ structs/classes<br> and Ruby objects so we can implement a mark function. */<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">%trackobjects;</span><br><br>/* Specify the mark function */<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">%markfunc Zoo "mark_Zoo";</span><br><br>%include "example.h"<br><br>%header %{<br><br>static void mark_Zoo(void* ptr) {<br> Zoo* zoo = (Zoo*) ptr;<br><br> /* Loop over each object and tell the garbage collector<br> that we are holding a reference to them. */<br> int count = zoo->get_num_animals();<br><br> for(int i = 0; i < count; ++i) {<br> Animal* animal = zoo->get_animal(i);<br> VALUE object = SWIG_RubyInstanceFor(animal);<br><br> if (object != Qnil) {<br> rb_gc_mark(object);<br> }<br> }<br>}<br>%}<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Note the <tt>mark</tt> function is dependent on the <tt>SWIG_RUBY_InstanceFor</tt>
|
|
method, and thus requires that <tt>%trackobjects</tt>
|
|
is enabled. For more information, please refer to the track_object.i test case in the SWIG test suite.</p>
|
|
<p>When this code is compiled we now see:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>$ <b>irb<br></b>irb(main):002:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1=Example::Animal.new("tiger1")</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2be3bf8><br><br>irb(main):003:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2be1780><br><br>irb(main):004:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2bde9c0><br><br>irb(main):005:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.add_animal(tiger1)</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):009:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = nil</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):010:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">GC.start</span><br>=> nil<br>irb(main):014:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2 = zoo.get_animal(0)</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2be3bf8><br><br>irb(main):015:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger2.get_name()</span><br>=> "tiger1"<br>irb(main):016:0><br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<p>This code can be seen in swig/examples/ruby/mark_function.</p>
|
|
<H3><a name="Ruby_nn56"></a>27.8.4 Free Functions</H3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>By default, SWIG creates a "free" function that is called when a Ruby object is
|
|
garbage collected. The free function simply calls the C++ object's destructor.</p>
|
|
<p>However, sometimes an appropriate destructor does not exist or special
|
|
processing needs to be performed before the destructor is called. Therefore,
|
|
SWIG allows you to manually specify a "free" function via the use of the <tt>%freefunc</tt>
|
|
directive. The <tt>%freefunc</tt> directive is implemented using SWIG's'
|
|
"features" mechanism and so the same name matching rules used for other kinds
|
|
of features apply (see the chapter on <a href="Customization.html#Customization">"Customization
|
|
Features"</a>) for more details).</p>
|
|
<p>IMPORTANT ! - If you define your own free function, then you must ensure that
|
|
you call the underlying C++ object's destructor. In addition, if object
|
|
tracking is activated for the object's class, you must also call the <tt>SWIG_RubyRemoveTracking</tt>
|
|
function (of course call this before you destroy the C++ object). Note that it
|
|
is harmless to call this method if object tracking if off so it is advised to
|
|
always call it.</p>
|
|
<p>Note there is a subtle interaction between object ownership and free functions.
|
|
A custom defined free function will only be called if the Ruby object owns the
|
|
underlying C++ object. This also to Ruby objects which are created, but then
|
|
transfer ownership to C++ objects via the use of the <tt>disown</tt> typemap
|
|
described above.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>To show how to use the <tt>%freefunc</tt> directive, let's slightly change our
|
|
example. Assume that the zoo object is responsible for freeing animal that it
|
|
contains. This means that the
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">Zoo::add_animal</span>
|
|
function should be marked with a
|
|
<span style="font-family: monospace;">DISOWN</span>
|
|
typemap and the destructor should be updated as below::</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>Zoo::~Zoo() {<br> IterType iter = this->animals.begin();<br> IterType end = this->animals.end();<br><br> for(iter; iter != end; ++iter) {<br> Animal* animal = *iter;<br> delete animal;<br> }<br>}</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>When we use these objects in IRB we see:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">$irb</span><br>irb(main):002:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">require 'example'</span><br>=> true<br><br>irb(main):003:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2be0fe8><br><br>irb(main):005:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = Example::Animal.new("tiger1")</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2bda760><br><br>irb(main):006:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.add_animal(tiger1)</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = nil</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):008:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">GC.start</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):009:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1.get_name()</span><br>(irb):12: [BUG] Segmentation fault<br>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>The error happens because the C++ <tt>animal</tt> object is freed when the <tt>zoo</tt>
|
|
object is freed. Although this error is unavoidable, we can at least prevent
|
|
the segmentation fault. To do this requires enabling object tracking and
|
|
implementing a custom free function that calls the <tt>SWIG_RubyUnlinkObjects</tt>
|
|
function for each animal object that is destroyed. The <tt>SWIG_RubyUnlinkObjects</tt>
|
|
function notifies SWIG that a Ruby object's underlying C++ object is no longer
|
|
valid. Once notified, SWIG will intercept any calls from the existing Ruby
|
|
object to the destroyed C++ object and raise an exception.<br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre>%module example<br><br>%{<br>#include "example.h"<br>%}<br><br>/* Specify that ownership is transferred to the zoo<br> when calling add_animal */<br>%apply SWIGTYPE *DISOWN { Animal* animal };<br><br>/* Track objects */<br>%trackobjects;<br><br>/* Specify the mark function */<br>%freefunc Zoo "free_Zoo";<br><br>%include "example.h"<br><br>%header %{<br> static void free_Zoo(void* ptr) {<br> Zoo* zoo = (Zoo*) ptr;<br><br> /* Loop over each animal */<br> int count = zoo->get_num_animals();<br><br> for(int i = 0; i < count; ++i) {<br> /* Get an animal */<br> Animal* animal = zoo->get_animal(i);<br><br> /* Unlink the Ruby object from the C++ object */<br> SWIG_RubyUnlinkObjects(animal);<br><br> /* Now remove the tracking for this animal */<br> SWIG_RubyRemoveTracking(animal);<br> }<br><br> /* Now call SWIG_RemoveMapping for the zoo */<br> SWIG_RemoveMapping(ptr);<br> <br> /* Now free the zoo which will free the animals it contains */<br> delete zoo;<br> }<br>%} </pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Now when we use these objects in IRB we see:</p>
|
|
<div class="code">
|
|
<pre><span style="font-weight: bold;">$irb</span><br>irb(main):002:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">require 'example'</span><br>=> true<br><br>irb(main):003:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = Example::Zoo.new()</span><br>=> #<Example::Zoo:0x2be0fe8><br><br>irb(main):005:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1 = Example::Animal.new("tiger1")</span><br>=> #<Example::Animal:0x2bda760><br><br>irb(main):006:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo.add_animal(tiger1)</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):007:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">zoo = nil</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):008:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">GC.start</span><br>=> nil<br><br>irb(main):009:0> <span style="font-weight: bold;">tiger1.get_name()</span><br>RuntimeError: This Animal * already released<br> from (irb):10:in `get_name'<br> from (irb):10<br>irb(main):011:0></pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<p>Notice that SWIG can now detect the underlying C++ object has been freed, and
|
|
thus raises a runtime exception.</p>
|
|
<p>This code can be seen in swig/examples/ruby/free_function.</p>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|